Club Brugge 0-2 Benfica: Talking points as defensive mistakes prove costly for Scott Parker’s team

Benfica have gained an important advantage over Club Brugge after the first leg of their encounter in the round of 16 of the Champions League, leaving Belgium on Wednesday evening two goals ahead, courtesy of a Joao Mario penalty in the 51st minute and a fine finish from David Neres with two minutes of the 90 left on the clock.

Brugge’s costly defensive woes

There can be no questions about the penalty awarded to Benfica which Mario converted to break the deadlock. Brugge centre-back Jack Hendry was completely oblivious of his surroundings as he went to clear the ball from his box, utterly careless as he allowed Goncalo Ramos to stick his leg out and get the ball first, before kicking the Benfica striker in the calf with all his might.

There wasn’t even a shred of doubt in the mind of referee Davide Massa as he blew the whistle and pointed to the spot, and no objection to the call came from the VAR room. Even Hendry himself had no complaints and could only bow his head in acknowledgement of the offence.

Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, known from his days in the Premier League as an excellent penalty stopper, did his best to spare his defender the blushes, guessing rightly where the shot would go, but luck failed him in that moment as it bounced off his palms into the underside of the crossbar and into the goal.

As for the second goal, Bjorn Meijer, tasked with covering the left defensive flank for Brugge, intercepted a long pass aimed at Neres, but his first touch let him down and he lost control over the ball, as the last man in front of Mignolet and just outside the box. The Benfica winger reacted in a flash of lightning, robbed Meijer, charged into the box and doubled his team’s advantage with a very important goal ahead of the second leg.

Not that Benfica didn’t have other chances to score, but these two situations obviously led to the goals that did happen, and it’s hard to ignore the feeling that had Brugge been just a little more concentrated at the back, the outcome of the match would’ve been far more favourable from their point of view.